Yesterday, I woke up early and went for a long walk. I came home, took a nice shower, and put on a pair of jeans and a fitted tee shirt. I did my makeup nicely and blew out my hair.
I was ready.
I turned on my “Office Ladies” podcast, and created a mountain of all of my clothes. The purge commenced.
Rather than split items into four or five categories, I kept it simple: “Keep it” or “Donate.” I did set aside a handful of tee shirts that I want to recycle into a quilt! I found multiple companies that do this for you (it seems like a craft that I should outsource. I can fix a basic hem but stitching together a full blanket is too advanced for my skills!). Prices are on a sliding scale, so we’ll see how that goes.
While sorting my clothes, I kept this color palette in my head:
As you can see, no bright colors, no neon shades, and (finally) no navy. Navy makes me feel like an old woman. Some girls can rock it, but most navy clothes my size can also be found on cranky moms who are one tantrum away from a breakdown.
I eliminated a lot of clothes that were faded in fashion and color. I kept a few things that would work if I lost a few pounds, but my goal is to pare down further as I slim down more. I even donated a few higher quality items! I’m honestly not sure if any of my items would get me any kind of money at a consignment store, and to be honest, I’d rather someone shopping at Goodwill find my gently used tunics for six dollars than see it gouged out at a Fashion Planet.
A few items I bade farewell to were sentimental: a jersey I got in college as a gift from my Dad, my old college sweatshirt (with a bleach stain), and a pair of comfy pajamas were the ones I held in a hug and said thank you to before putting them in with the rest of the donation items. My “ideal” self can appreciate sentiment, so I took pictures of each one, too!
All in all, my two drawers that could barely hold my pants became two neatly condensed shelves, and I narrowed down my shirts to one drawer! I now have a whole drawer for my sports/at home bras. That’s an ideal situation when all I do is work from home and work out at the gym!
Currently, I have two garbage bags sat at the foot of my staircase to be given to Goodwill. My closet ONLY has clothes that I want to wear. Honestly, I feel pretty darn great!